The 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup qualification was announced on December. It will feature four confederation qualification tournaments for each of the four International Rugby League confederations (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Middle East-Africa). The two group winners of Europe will directly qualify, while the playoff winner of the two runners up will face the winners of other three tournaments in the 2025 World Series for the final two spots in the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.[1] [2]
Qualification is open to all full and affiliate member nations who did not qualify via the 2021 World Cup.
| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Total times qualified | Last time qualified | Current consecutive appearances | data-sort-type="number" | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Group A winners | 5 November 2022 | 4 | 4 | Semi-finals (2008, 2013, 2017, 2021) | |||
| 2021 Group A runners-up | 5 November 2022 | 2 | 2021 | 2 | Semi-finals (2021) | ||
| 2021 Group B winners | 6 November 2022 | 6 | 6 | Winners (2013, 2017, 2021) | |||
| 2021 Group B runners-up | 6 November 2022 | 6 | 2021 | 6 | Winners (2000, 2003, 2008) | ||
| Europe Group A winner | 22 June 2024 | 1 | 1 | First appearance | |||
| Europe Group B winner | 22 June 2024 | 5 | 2021 | 2 | Semi-finals (2013) | ||
| Asia-Pacific winner | 2 November 2024 | 3 | 2008 | 1 | Fifth-place (2003, 2008) | ||
| TBC | World Series winners | 2025 |
Americas qualification was intended to have been a four way competition between Brazil, Canada, Jamaica and the USA, with a semi-finals then final format based on IRL rankings, with the winner progressing to the 2025 World Series.[3]
In June 2024, Brazil withdrew from the tournament due to funding and logistical difficulties.[4]
The original draw and schedule was announced 30 January 2024 and would have seen Canada play Jamaica and USA play Brazil in the semi-finals.[3]
| Team | Ranking | |
|---|---|---|
| 7th | ||
| 11th | ||
| 16th | ||
| 22nd |
The revised schedule saw Jamaica play USA, with the winners playing Canada for the place in the World Series.[4] Canada played a friendly against the USA Pioneers in lieu of their semi-final match, with Jamaica also facing the Pioneers as a result of losing their semi-final as a curtain-raiser before the final.[4] Canada beat the Pioneers 80–0[5] and Jamaica beat the Pioneers 48–12.[6]
The 2024 Women's Pacific Bowl will act as qualification for the World Cup. First place qualifies for the World Cup, second place qualifies for the 2025 World Series.
The draw and schedule was announced 30 August 2024.[7] [8]
| Team | Ranking | |
|---|---|---|
| 6th | ||
| 14th | ||
| 24th | ||
| 26th |
Seven teams are entered into the competition. The two lowest ranked teams, Italy and the Netherlands, will play each other in a preliminary play-off match. The resulting six teams are split into two groups of three. The two group winning countries qualify for the World Cup, while the runners up in each group will play-off for a spot in the 2025 World Series.
The draw for the groups was made on 17 January 2024, with fixtures confirmed on 7 February.[9] [10] Teams were seeded in pairs (highest ranked with second ranked, third with fourth and fifth with sixth) based on their IRL ranking on the date of the draw with one team from each pair in each group.
| Group A | Group B | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Rank | Team | Rank | |
| 8th | 5th | |||
| 9th | 10th | |||
| / | 16th/ 18th | 12th | ||
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The IRL World Rankings were updated in July 2024 following the group stage of the European qualification tournament. This saw Greece move up one spot to ninth and Ireland drop one spot to tenth. As a result, Greece hosted the World Series playoff.[11]
hosted in a two match test series where the winner qualified for the 2025 World Series.[12]
The series saw each team win one match and the aggregate score was 22-all. Under the tournament rules the team with the highest aggregate scores would advance but with the aggregate scores tied, the result had to move to the next deciding criteria. The next deciding criteria was tries scored. Again this was tied with each having scored four. The next deciding criteria was number of goals kicked, which saw Nigeria advance to the World Series with a three to two goal advantage.[13]
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The 2025 World Series will be the inter-confederation qualification tournament for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. The winner will qualify for the World Cup.
In September 2024, South Africa (who will participate in the men's tournament) submitted a proposal to host the World Series, in attempt to strengthen their bids to host the 2028 Women's World Cup and 2030 Men's World Cup.[14] The 2025 World Series will be played by:
The winner will qualify for the World Cup.